I took the family down to San Diego for the Charger/Bronco game this weekend and stayed at the Half Moon Inn for the first time. Fun place with the kids and a pool-side room.

There were a couple of nice masks inside the lobby with the great entrance.

There are still a few old tikis hanging around the pool area ...

They even added a new Tiki by the pool.

I was walking down a pathway towards the outdoor concert area and to my surprise found this guy (note the curious on-lookers!).

This tiki and fountain are located next to the old putting green area.

Went to happy hour at the Backstage Lounge which is in the old restaurant building. Still a great A-Frame. Good happy hour food at half price but bad Mai Tais, so we walked over to the Bali Hai for some real drinks.

Here are two of the tiki poles. This post is an April 2007 restoration of Shutterfly photos and I no longer remember the poles' exact placement, but one was in the pool area and shot from outside the pool fence.

This place is paradise! Still quite a few Tikis! Great pool, right off the bay so virtually surrounded by water, albeit not necessarily by a beach, and every room has an incredible A-Frame decor! And, right by the Bali Hai.

Here is an interesting piece of Shelter Island history: As evidenced by this architectural rendering, the Half Moon Inn initially was supposed to house a Steve Crane Ports of Call, as other Sheratons did. Now that would have been an added bonus!

Interesting indeed, Bigbro. Must have been close to happening, I spoted this standard Kon Tiki Ports menu that listed a Ports O Half Moon, Shelter Island location of the inside!

It is an early menu and there were other Kon Tiki/Ports o Call locations that opened after it was printed, wonder why this one fell through? Man that would have been something, right down the street from the Bali Hai!

Humphrey's Half Moon Inn is undergoing a facelift. They are replacing the old wood and brown painted-over brick 'n slop exteriors, with a more contemporary stucco and stone. Wood railings being replaced by formed metal. Interiors are getting a much needed updating too. Not too sure how I feel about this. The place needed some work, to be sure. But will sort of miss the old rustic look of the place. Still...I think it will maintain that great Poly vibe overall. Landscaping is still spectacular. And glad the owners are continuing to invest in the place. Here's some pics:

And for reference...a shot of the old façade from a post above:

Just spent a few wonderful nights here on the non-refurbed side. Had a great time. Weather was perfect.

From 1949 to 1961, she was the receptionist for a doctor who was also an investor in San Diego’s first resort property, the Half Moon Inn on Shelter Island. The property was struggling. Tourism hadn’t yet come to San Diego—it was still just a Navy town.

Riley was hired to handle the resort’s public relations. As the San Diego Union said, “. . . The owners bet on a long shot. They sent in a doctor’s receptionist, a woman with a man’s first name, to do some promotion . . . Billy Riley put on its feet a nine-year-old resort hotel that had arrived before its time.”

“Those were desperate, desperate times,” she says. “Occupancy was low—5%. So I had all the hotel employees park their cars in the spaces reserved for guests and I turned on every light in the place at night. That brought in the first tourists. I knew times were changing when I could quit sewing together twin sheets if we needed a king-sized bed that night.”

Riley’s ingenuity was recognized and she eventually became assistant manager and soon manager and vice president. Her entertainment background surfaced and she began “staging” her first hotel.

The Polynesian paradise

The Half Moon Inn was transformed into a Polynesian paradise and Billy was as comfortable in her muumuu as she is today in a lace period dress. Even the trams that transported guests had “the look” with their thatched grass roofs. Guests described the property as being “more like the islands than the islands.”

The reputation spread and the resort soon became a haunt for celebrities. Nan and Frankie Lane lived there 13 years and regulars included Desi Arnaz, Xavier Cugat and Lana Turner. And because of its romantic charm, many newlyweds honeymooned at the Half Moon Inn, including President Johnson’s daughter, Lynda Bird, and her husband Charles Robb.

In 1969, Sheraton bought the thriving Half Moon Inn and Riley went to Los Angeles as a vice president for Amfac hotels

She still lives in San Diego and sounds like an interesting person to talk to. I wonder if any of you San Diegans might look her up and perhaps scan a few goodies from this:

Quote:

After he saw old scrapbooks from Riley’s Half Moon Inn days—the resort’s transformation and its appeal to celebrities—Pearson repeatedly asked Riley to manage the Gaslamp property.

Against a backdrop of marinas, boat repair and boat building, owners of hotels and restaurants in the early years strove to imbue the area with a Polynesian sensibility. The Bali Hai Restaurant, for example, offered a Polynesian floor show six nights a week. The mai tai, the rum-fueled cocktail, was a popular beverage.

"The key to everything was our Polynesian atmosphere," said Billy Riley, 85, a pioneering businesswoman on Shelter Island. "We were more Hawaii than Hawaii."

Riley, who managed the Half Moon Inn and was later a part owner of a Shelter Island restaurant, said the Polynesian patina lured winter tourists from the Midwest and Phoenix.

My wife CeCe and I are here now warming up for tomorrow nights event at the Bali Hai. We are in the room that has the Macaws right next to our outdoor seating area. We have had this room before-it’s our favorite! There is one of the older larger Tiki’s within touching distance of the outdoor seating area. We just “closed” the Bali Hai, Tom gave us a little history lesson. I would add pix but they would be out of focus. Good Times.
Cheers